The President’s climate commitment states in part:
“While we understand that there might be short-term challenges associated with this effort, we believe that there will be great short-, medium-, and long-term economic, health, social and environmental benefits, including achieving energy independence for the U.S. as quickly as possible.
“We believe colleges and universities must exercise leadership in their communities and throughout society by modeling ways to minimize global warming emissions, and by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality. Campuses that address the climate challenge by reducing global warming emissions and by integrating sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society…
“We further believe that colleges and universities that exert leadership in addressing climate change will stabilize and reduce their long-term energy costs, attract excellent students and faculty, attract new sources of funding, and increase the support of alumni and local communities.”
To all Gateway Technical College stakeholders:
It is an honor to serve as President of Gateway Technical College. The Gateway community continues to inspire in many ways. Our students achieve academic and career success, our business partnerships are models for the nation, and our faculty and staff strive for the highest service, built on the core values of honesty, integrity and responsibility.
Those same core values shape our commitment to sustainability. We constantly strive to create a culture around saving energy, reducing our carbon footprint, recycling more, wasting less, and generally doing our part toward building a greener, cleaner world. This report is one example of our ongoing effort to model environmental sustainability. Through carbon measurement, energy management and facility improvements, Gateway is advancing aggressively toward our established goals for reducing our environmental impacts on the communities we serve.
This year we renewed our participation in the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, signed onto the Global Environmental Pledge, and joined countries worldwide in boosting awareness of global warming through Global Warming Summit held in Paris. From our recycling initiative to the Green Scholars program, our faculty, staff and students are leading the way in sustainable practices.
Our world will continue to challenge us to maintain adequate supplies of fresh water, clean air and locally sourced food. With your support, Gateway will continue to design education programs that prepare and inspire students for careers that help build a more sustainable future – programs like freshwater resources, geoexchange technology, sustainable energy systems, wind and solar technology, and urban farming.
This 2016 Sustainable Gateway report updates our initial plan, presented in 2012. It outlines what we have accomplished thus far and our goals looking ahead. I welcome you to review this report, offer your comments, and suggest other steps Gateway can take toward making our campuses and communities greener.
Sincerely,
Bryan D. Albrecht, Ed.D.
President and CEO, Gateway Technical College